Incommunicado
by by7the7sea
Summary: Skye (I'll start calling her Daisy once I've actually heard it on the show) needs to talk to Lincoln. Inspired by Luke's SDCC interviews.


**Author's Note:** _Italicized text_ indicates thoughts.

 **xxx SHIELD xxx**

Once Skye had completely reviewed the file Coulson had given her, she started a list of who she wanted on this special task force. It took her half a day to come up with two names - Lincoln and Mike Peterson.

Well, it wasn't actually half a day to get those two names, more like the first five minutes. The rest of the time she spent trying to think of some others, taking a break to get some snacks, working on the list, go talk to Fitz, add some names, go hang out with Mack, back to the list and crossing off the ones she just added then wandering the halls of the playground. She even tried checking the Index, but most of those were people SHIELD was keeping track of because they were either unstable or dangerous or both.

" _Sure could use some help with this_ ," Skye thought then picked up her cellphone and tried to call Lincoln. When it started ringing, she checked the time and realized he would probably be asleep at 4 a.m. and hung up. " _Better continue this tomorrow_."

 **xxx SHIELD xxx**

The next day, Skye texted Lincoln. " _When you get this, call me._ " She didn't want to run the risk of interrupting his studies, so she figured it was better to have him call her.

She had expected to hear from him before this once he was settled back into his life in Cincinnati. SHIELD had made sure he was able to get home after the incident on the ship. Since he had helped them, they did not detain him as they did some of the other Inhumans.

It had been almost a month and she hadn't heard anything from him. Not even a quick text to say "hi". Every couple of days she had sent him other texts. Usually it would be "Hey, there!" or some other variation of hi. Then she tried "Pikachu, where are you?" feeling pretty confident that would elicit a response. Nothing.

Using her hacker skills, Skye checked to see if maybe he had changed his number. Nope, still the same.

"Okay, that's it," Skye said to no one in particular. "I'm taking this to the next level."

She grabbed her phone and dialed his number. After a couple of rings, it went to voicemail.

"Hi, uh, Lincoln, this is Skye ... just checking in. Making sure everything's okay ... how's med school? Were you able to get back into your classes? ... so ... yeah. Give me a call when you get this ... I have an amazing opportunity for you ... would love to hear ..." then there was a dial tone. She had either used up the allotted time or he turned the phone off. She had been rambling a bit, so she chalked it up to a time limit.

Skye left three more voicemails for him before she started getting messages about his voicemail box being full.

 **xxx SHIELD xxx**

"Director, requesting permission to go on a recon trip." Skye stated as she entered Coulson's office.

"Reconnaissance? For what?" Coulson responded as he placed the folder he had just pulled from the file cabinet on his desk.

"Lincoln."

The Director stepped behind the desk and stopped. "Oh, still haven't heard from him?"

"No. His phone is either off or he lost it or something. I can't leave any more messages for him and he hasn't responded to texts either. Let me go find him before this gets out of hand."

"Permission granted. Where will you start?"

"Cincinnati."

 **xxx SHIELD xxx**

Skye used a commercial airline to fly into Cincinnati. The cover story was she was taking a few days vacation to see some friends, which was partially true. She wasn't on vacation, but she was going to see a friend. Using Lincoln's file from the Index, her first stop was his apartment.

As she paid for the taxi, Skye heard a familiar voice. "Skye? Is that you?"

She turned around and grinned at the man. "In the flesh!" She wanted to run and give him a hug, but he was carrying a couple of bags of groceries. "Well, not like the first time we met, but yeah it's me."

"What are you doing here? I thought you would have ... work ... uhm ... business to take care of," Lincoln responded.

"That's why I'm here," Skye replied as she held the door open for him since his hands were full.

Lincoln froze and quickly surveyed the area for more agents. Skye almost ran into him because of the sudden stop.

Skye whispered in his ear, "don't worry, you're fine. It's not like that."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case, follow me."

 **xxx SHIELD xxx**

As Lincoln put away his groceries, Skye checked out his apartment. It was nice, not very big but suitable for a student. She could tell that he didn't spend too much time here. Yet, there were some personal touches, such as a few scenery pictures hanging on the far wall, which immediately drew her attention.

"Are these pictures of Afterlife?" Sure, she had been there, but it had been so long ago and so much had happened since, she wasn't positive.

"Yes." His answer was abrupt.

There were also some empty spaces, as if some pictures were recently removed. She could hazard a guess as to what ... or probably who ... was in those.

Skye moved on to a couple of book shelves. Those had mostly medical books stacked on them, but a couple of other pictures were sitting on the top shelf in front of some of the books. These photos had people in them. One had a little blonde-haired boy with a dorky little grin on his face. It had to be Lincoln when he was three or four. The other photograph had the same little boy in them but also a young couple. It was a candid photo of the little boy happily running toward the young woman, who was kneeling with her arms wide open. The man stood behind the woman just beaming at the sight in front of him. The little family looked so happy.

Just as Skye picked up the picture to get a better look, Lincoln entered the room.

"Put that back," he stated as he came over to her and grabbed the picture from her. He then gently set it back where it had been.

"Sorry, I just ... "

Lincoln sighed then turned around. "No, it's okay. It's just ... it means a lot to me and I ... what are you doing here, Skye?"

Skye took a moment to process what had just happened before proceeding. "No, you're right. I shouldn't have touched it."

"It's okay. Have a seat," Lincoln responded and directed her to the small sitting area.

There were just a couple of comfy chairs in one section of the room. Skye selected the chair next to the window and Lincoln sat in the other.

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Lincoln said, "It is good to see you again. How are things at SHIELD?"

"Fine, fine ... it's good to see you too."

Another minute of silence.

"Again, why are you here?"

"Oh, right. I tried calling and texting and you didn't respond. Did something happen to your phone?"

"Yeah, I left it back at Afterlife … was in a bit of hurry to leave and forgot it."

"Ah, yeah, things got a bit crazy there."

"Why were you wanting to talk to me?"

"Coulson has a special mission for me, which may provide an exciting opportunity for you."

Skye rolled her eyes at the way that came out. " _Way to go, I sound like an infomercial_ ," she berated herself.

"Opportunity? What sort of opportunity?"

"Well, what makes us different?"

"I'm a man and you're a woman."

"No, no, no ... I mean yes, that is a difference between you and I, but what makes us different from others?"

"We're descendants," Lincoln said as he crossed his arms. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"Right! And even more so, we have powers. So, Coulson, the Director, has tasked me with putting together a special team of people with powers."

"Okay, and ..."

"We will be like the Avengers, except for one thing ... we will be a secret. So we will be out there helping people, just like the Avengers, but people won't know who we are ... so what do you say?"

Lincoln took a moment before speaking. "Hmmm ... interesting."

"Interesting? That's all you have to say? Come on, this will be so cool to be out there using our powers to help people." She couldn't understand why he wasn't more excited about this.

"Oh, it does sound cool and all .. but ..."

"But what? How cool would it be to be a secret Avenger or, better yet, a secret warrior? Fighting the good fight and all that." Her enthusiasm waned as Lincoln failed to respond in kind. "What's wrong, Lincoln?"

He sighed and leaned forward in his chair, but he didn't look at her. He folded his hands in front of him and stared at the floor.

"I don't think that's for me," he said. "I'm still trying to get my life back together after ... well … you know."

"What do you mean 'get my life back together'? You're back in Cincinnati, back in school ... "

Lincoln stood up and walked away from her.

"That's where you're wrong, I'm not back in school. I'm still trying to get them to let me come back. Although at this rate, if I want to finish med school, I'll probably have to transfer to a new one and retake some courses."

"Oh ... I just assumed ..."

"While dealing with that, I tried contacting some of the others, let them know what happened. The first one I was able to reach had already heard about it ... she called me ... a ... traitor." Lincoln's voice broke on that last word. He stopped and stared at the Afterlife pictures then quickly turned his head.

"Lincoln, no," Skye whispered.

She sat there, stunned. " _How could anyone call Lincoln a traitor? He's the most loyal person I've met ... except maybe for Fitz._ "

"So as great as that sounds, 'fighting the good fight' and all, I'm just not sure what that is anymore."

Skye never expected this. Lincoln was so confident when she met him, goofy but confident. He knew so much about what was going on with her and cared deeply for all of the Inhumans. How could someone think he would betray them? She looked at him again and realized he had lost that confidence. He was lost. She had to do something.

"Lincoln, have you seen the news?" Skye stood up and walked over to him.

"Not much, why?"

"But, you've heard about the Fish Oil incident?"

"Of course."

"Random people all over the country, innocently taking their supplements, and all of a sudden they transform into something else. Part of my mission is to help those people. Let them know what happened and assist them any way we can. I need your help with that. That is your specialty. All these new Inhumans, they need a transitioner and you're the best one ... well, you're the only one I know ... but you're good at it." She smiled at him.

"I ... don't know," he said as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

"Please help me make this right," Skye said as she laid a hand on his arm. "It's my fault this happened and I need to get out there and fix it. Your help would be invaluable."

"Your fault?"

"Yeah, when I was trying to stop Jiaying, I _pushed_ a quinjet into the ocean ... a jet that had just had a box of crystals loaded onto it. So, you see, I need to do this and I need your help."

"I'll think about it."

"That's all that I'm asking," Skye said then went over, grabbed her backpack and dug something out of it. "Once you've made up your mind, use this." She tossed the object to Lincoln.

"A cellphone?"

"Yep, it's yours … it's the least I could do for all that has happened and what you've done for me."

"I … don't know what to say." He activated the phone. "Really?" He held it up to her. "Pikachu?"

"What? It's perfect."

Just then Skye's phone alerted her to an incoming text message. She checked it then pulled on her backpack.

"I've got to go," Skye said. "I really could use you on my team. This mission is as important to me as the Inhumans are to you. You aren't a traitor, Lincoln. You can still help them."

With that, she gave him a quick hug goodbye, then left.

 **xxx THE END xxx**


End file.
